Former Central Weather Bureau (CWB) forecast center director Daniel Wu (吳德榮) yesterday criticized CWB acting director-general Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典), saying that Cheng inaccurately predicted that the nation would see an early end to the plum rain season and that Cheng’s comments compromised the bureau’s credibility.
With a weather front moving north, the nation has had high temperatures and afternoon showers in the past few weeks due to the dominant influence of a Pacific high-pressure system, a sign of an early termination of the plum rain season, Cheng said on Facebook on Sunday, adding that the rain could return later this month.
In his online column yesterday, Wu said that Cheng’s prediction of a second plum rain season contradicted his assertion of an early end to the season.
Photo: Liu Pin-chuan, Taipei Times
The center on May 31 published a long-term weather forecast, which showed that rainfall this month is highly likely to be within the normal range, Wu said, adding that the report did not say that there would be an early end to the plum rain season.
“The report offers a rather accurate long-term weather forecast, but I am afraid its credibility has been greatly weakened by the acting director-general’s remarks on Facebook,” Wu said.
Despite the technology available, there was no way for meteorologists to tell at the end of last month or the beginning of this month whether there would still be plum rain fronts affecting the nation in the second half of this month, he said.
Cheng spoke too soon and contradicted information published by the bureau, Wu said, adding that historical weather data show that it is quite normal to have one or two relatively dry weeks amid the plum rain season.
The fourth front of the plum rain season, a stationary front, is expected to move close to Taiwan on Sunday along with a southeasterly airstream, based on simulations conducted by meteorologists in the EU and the US, Wu said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS